YES, DELAWARE, THERE ARE SUSSEX DEMOCRATS

A bumper sticker offered to people at the Sussex
County Democrats' annual spring dinner on Saturday read,
"Sussex Counts."

It had nothing to do with a new episode on "Sesame
Street." Not the census, either.

The bumper sticker was from the Shore Democrats. It
was meant as a reminder to the rest of the Delaware
Democratic Party not to write off the state's
southernmost county as a bunch of Tea Party-rooting,
birther-believing, Christine O'Donnell-loving diehards.

Not that anyone could tell from the 2010 election.
There were 20 races on the Sussex County ballot,
everything from U.S. senator to the county sheriff, and
the Democrats won only four of them -- a statewide race
for attorney general and three local races for
legislators who were re-elected.

They get no credit, of course, for attorney general.
It was a forfeit. The Republicans did not bother to
field a candidate against Beau Biden, not with his clout
to summon vice presidential firepower. Biden's only
opponent was a protest candidate. Even so, the place is
so conservative that nearly 17,000 Sussex Countians
voted against him.

It is not good that the Sussex Democrats were saddled
with their sad-sack record in an election year when the
Republicans were almost run out of the state. The
Republicans are down to the auditor as their only
statewide officeholder and sunk in the minority in the
General Assembly.

There are actually about 3,000 more Democrats than
Republicans on the Sussex voter registration rolls, but
they are wobbly.

"We have the advantage when it comes to voting, but
we don't, because they don't vote," said Pete
Schwartzkopf, the House Democratic majority leader who
is from Sussex County.

With so much Democratic momentum in Delaware, it is
not a lot of fun to be left out. The theme of the Sussex
spring dinner was "Reflections." It seemed like a code
word for look-in-the-mirror.

The Sussex Democrats did raise their own spirits by
selling out the event, which drew about 200 people to
the Cheer Community Center in Georgetown. Nor could they
ask for a better opportunity for a comeback than the
2012 election.

Not only are the Republicans in dire condition, but
the top of the Democratic ticket should be power-packed
with an all-incumbent slate of Tom Carper for senator,
John Carney for congressman, Jack Markell for governor,
Matt Denn for lieutenant governor and Karen Weldin
Stewart for insurance commissioner -- although Stewart
might not want to take anything for granted.

The Sussex dinner was notable for its enormous
density per square foot of candidates for insurance
commissioner, people who have had, have or might have
designs on running for the office -- even excluding Denn,
who spent a term there before he was elected lieutenant
governor.

The concentration was enough to make an actuary
swoon. It was also enough to flag Stewart as a shaky
incumbent who could be primary bait.

Stewart attended the dinner. So did Gene Reed Jr.,
who lost the 2008 primary for insurance commissioner,
John Brady, who was the 2008 Republican candidate but
has switched parties, and Mitch Crane, the Stonewall
Democrats' president who works in the Insurance
Department.

Not to mention there had to be a reason Bryon Short,
a state representative who came all the way to the
dinner from the state's northernmost reaches, was
introduced as the "chairman of the House Insurance
Committee."

The dinner had a healthy representation of the
Democrats' statewide contingent, namely Carper, Carney,
Denn, Stewart and Chip Flowers, the treasurer. Markell,
Biden and Chris Coons, the other senator, sent word they
had commitments elsewhere.

Only Carper, Carney and Denn were invited to give
speeches. It was just as well. If all eight of the
statewide officeholders were present and speaking, the
spring dinner might have lasted long enough to become
the summer dinner.